Atik Infinity with Spotting Scope?

[Starcloud]

Hi All,

Has anyone managed to attach the Atik Infinity to a spotting scope for prime focus or know if this is possible?  I have an Acuter 80 ED DS and would like to use it as a portable visual / VA setup with my Infinity on a SW AZ GTi mount.  I tried it on my NEQ6 mount but couldn’t attain anywhere near focus.

Cheers,

Mark

[shirva]

Hi mark.

Probably easier fitting the infinity to your ed 80, than a spotting scope,, 

You may require an extension tube on your focuser,, I haven't the foggiest on exact distances for different cameras to hit focal point,, I have a selection of different sized extensions and start with my 80mm and work down to I get focus,,

It can be a right pain in the neck,,?

When I first started , I was turning the focus knob like a man possessed and either didn't have enough back travel or just missed the focal point by going to fast,, lot different focusing with an eyepiece to a camera,,

I got a flip mirror and it helped me find my focal point with my Samsung scb with the help of a 6mm eyepiece(1/3 sensor).

Recommend a selection of different length adapters.

Mine come in handy when changing cameras , focal reducer, filter wheel,, just part of the astronomy tool box in my view.

I have used the sw ed80 on the az gti with a dslr and it's not ideal ,, bit unsteady,,  heaps better with my zwo 178,,  recommend by others who have it ,,to upgrade to a sturdier tripod.

I have ordered the new sw 72 ed to go on the az gti. As a compact grab n go.

The az gti is a great mount and fantastic with just a dslr and lens for wide field

I have the heq5 and fitted the wifi adapter and think it's brilliant,, as a more sturdier set up,

Hopefully an infinity user can be more precise than my general answer

[Bruce Leeroy]

21 hours ago, Starcloud said:

I tried it on my NEQ6 mount but couldn’t attain anywhere near focus.

If you have a barlow lens you should be able to remove the lens element and use it as an extension tube...if you have 2 barlows you can stack them together, if you test during the day and find you can reach focus on a distant tree/building and still have some inward focus travel left then your getting close to being able to focus to infinity.

[Starcloud]

Thanks for your replies Shirva and Bruce,  you have given me some food for thought.  I don’t have a barlow as I use the Baader Hyperions with fine tuning rings, but I am now thinking what I have got that could be fashioned into an extension tube.  I thought it would be too bright for the Infinity to image something in the daytime without totally blowing out white so that is a potentially useful technique for testing focus.

I did read somewhere that the focal point was too close to the prisms in a spotting scope to attach a camera and I guess I was hoping someone here knew and could confirm one way or another.  If the focal point is further out from the prism, and I can confirm this by testing, then it’s definitely worth buying an appropriately sized extension tube. Otherwise I will be in the market for a new 70 / 80mm ED refractor .

Mark

[shirva]

Hi mark,, apologies,, I miss understood your post,,I've now went and checked out your scope,, and given I tried something similar with a 60mm spotting scope i would look for an astronomy refractor if that's your goal.

On the spotting scope going A focal with a auto focus camera or smart phone,, great, no problems and great images,,,,I pulled apart my 60mm removed the prism glass and attached a Philips webcam,,, I could not achieve focus ,, it was so far away in my opinion to try and make it work it would turn out to be a Frankenstein scope and pretty unreliable,, I put it back to stock,, took me a few attempts ,, nearly binned it..

My recommendation is,,let us know what kind of objects you plan  view/image and we can advise from there.

Lunar,solar,planetary,deep sky, wide field.

Davy

[Starcloud]

A Frankenstein scope sounds scary, I can just imagine the unfeasibly large extension would be tricky to balance ...

 My main interest is deep sky objects and the scope will generally be for travel within the UK in my campervan (with limited storage space).  I was planning on buying the AZ Gti mount and hoping to utilise the spotting scope (currently on a Horizon 8115 tripod) with the Atik Infinity.

I have a SW 250 PDS in my obsy at home that does everything but has a limited (S / SE) view in a light polluted area. So having something portable to take to dark sites, or being able to view other directions at home, would add a lot to my enjoyment of the hobby.

 I am coming to the conclusion that I will need an astronomical refractor which I could also use for terrestrial / wildlife viewing.

 The SW Evostar 80 ED DS Pro interests me but is perhaps :

a) a bit weighty for the AZ Gti mount (I could use the Horizon or even my NEQ6 tripod legs if necessary) and 

the f/7.5 is maybe too slow for Video Astronomy with the Infinity, even with a focal reducer?  

 I am completely new to Video Astronomy so have little knowledge / experience but the images I’ve managed as a ‘newbie’ with the Infinity on my big scope are stunning and have amazed me. I am hooked on VA for viewing DSO’s which I can hardly see visually, if at all.

 Mark

 

[shirva]

1 hour ago, Starcloud said:

A Frankenstein scope sounds scary, I can just imagine the unfeasibly large extension would be tricky to balance ...

 My main interest is deep sky objects and the scope will generally be for travel within the UK in my campervan (with limited storage space).  I was planning on buying the AZ Gti mount and hoping to utilise the spotting scope (currently on a Horizon 8115 tripod) with the Atik Infinity.

I have a SW 250 PDS in my obsy at home that does everything but has a limited (S / SE) view in a light polluted area. So having something portable to take to dark sites, or being able to view other directions at home, would add a lot to my enjoyment of the hobby.

 I am coming to the conclusion that I will need an astronomical refractor which I could also use for terrestrial / wildlife viewing.

 The SW Evostar 80 ED DS Pro interests me but is perhaps :

a) a bit weighty for the AZ Gti mount (I could use the Horizon or even my NEQ6 tripod legs if necessary) and 

the f/7.5 is maybe too slow for Video Astronomy with the Infinity, even with a focal reducer?  

 I am completely new to Video Astronomy so have little knowledge / experience but the images I’ve managed as a ‘newbie’ with the Infinity on my big scope are stunning and have amazed me. I am hooked on VA for viewing DSO’s which I can hardly see visually, if at all.

 Mark

 The sw ed80 is a very versatile scope and bats well above it's price bracket, and is great for va,, I started with the star travel 102 but as everyone knows it has CA issues but livable, it's not until you look through the ed80 that you say WOW.

I have the sw 0.85 matched off/for and it makes it even better,, but I have bought the sw evostar 72 ed,, I checked out the simulated view on Flo's website with the 72ed and my camera's and compared it to the ed 80 and thought ,, I've got to buy this,, weight wise it's better than perfect for the az gti in my honest opinion.

I'm going to use my zwo asi 178 mc on this combo

And will be a great addition to my heq5 set up, I have a twin saddle and extension pier on it and added the sw wifi adapter,, only need  fit my Rowan mod kit and I'm a happy bunny.

I was going to kit out a transit into a day van/ astronomy van but had a change of heart,, I bought a seat altea and fitted a double din head unit with android built in,, 10" screen,, I have the skywatcher app on it running my az gti , plus other astronomy apps,, works brilliant.

 

[Starcloud]

Thanks Shirva, still thinking about it (I'm not a quick decision maker) and looking forward to see how you get on with the sw evostar 72 ed.

Mark

[shirva]

37 minutes ago, Starcloud said:

Thanks Shirva, still thinking about it (I'm not a quick decision maker) and looking forward to see how you get on with the sw evostar 72 ed.

Mark

Hopefully end of month for the scope,

[Starcloud]

Update – I tested if I could get focus on some lights across the valley from where I live and I couldn’t.  The Infinity needed to be inside the spotting scopes prisms....Thanks Bruce for suggesting testing in daylight, I hadn’t actually considered this or doing it on a tripod from my back bedroom window to some lights in the distance!

I have therefore had to ditch the idea of using the spotting scope on a goto mount with the camera.  I have now ordered an Explore Scientific ED 80 APO, SW AZ-Gti goto mount head (to go on my Horizon tripod) plus diagonals, red dot finder and a few other bits necessary to get the set up working. A lot more expense than I was planning but it should last a lifetime. 

 Hopefully it will all fit in the campervan with powertank, EP’s, camera, laptop....

Mark